Mark Wahlberg flexed his box office muscles on Friday with his latest thriller Contraband, which easily claimed first place with an estimated $8.7 million. Disney's 3D re-release of Beauty and the Beast was far behind in second, though it should close the gap substantially by the end of the four-day weekend. The final newcomer, Joyful Noise, edged out Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol for third, though positions could reverse over the next few days. Overall, the Top 10 made an estimated $32.6 million yesterday, which is identical to the same Friday last year.

Contraband's $8.7 million start was higher than other Wahlberg thrillers like Max Payne ($7.04 million), Four Brothers ($6.98 million) and Shooter ($4.8 million). It was also an improvement on January 2010's Edge of Darkness ($5.6 million), and was even a bit up from similar movie The Town ($8.3 million). For the four-day weekend, Universal is predicting around $29 million.

Beauty and the Beast 3D debuted to an estimated $5.6 million, which is notably off from The Lion King 3D's $8.9 million last September. A decline was to be expected, though, considering how popular The Lion King is in comparison. Beauty should finish the four-day weekend with over $25 million, which will make it the latest confirmation that 3D re-releases can be a very profitable endeavor.

Joyful Noise earned an estimated $3.3 million yesterday. That's a bit down from Queen Latifah's Last Holiday, which opened to $3.7 million on the same day in 2006. By the end of the holiday weekend, Joyful Noise will likely have made close to $13 million.

Facing its first real competition in Contraband, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol slid 47 percent to $3.3 million. Still, the movie has now grossed $178.3 million, and it should pass the first Mission: Impossible's $181 million total sometime today.

After it opened huge but drew a near-unprecedented level of hatred from its audience, The Devil Inside plummeted 84 percent to $2.7 million on Friday. For comparison, Paranormal Activity 3 and The Last Exorcism both only fell 76 percent, which is still pretty atrocious. One recent movie with a worse drop is the 2009 Friday the 13th remake, which yielded 86 percent on its second Friday ahead of a weekend that was down over 80 percent. The Devil Inside is probably in for a similar fall, though at this point it doesn't really matter—the movie has already scared up $41.1 million, which is more than The Last Exorcism made in its entire run.

Following two successful weeks in limited release, The Iron Lady expanded to 802 locations on Friday and earned $1.57 million. Its $1,958 per-theater average is a tad lower than Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy's from its expansion last Friday. Still, it puts the movie in line for over $5 million for the holiday weekend, which is a very solid start for the Margaret Thatcher biopic.

With one of Mark Wahlberg's best openings ever, Contraband managed to hold off Beauty and the Beast (3D) to claim first place over Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend. Chart stalwart Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol took third place ahead of newcomer Joyful Noise, while The Devil Inside had one of the worst second weekend drops ever. The Top 12 made around $116 million this weekend, which is about on par with the same frame last year.

Contraband debuted to an estimated $24.1 million for the three-day weekend. That ranks seventh all-time for star Mark Wahlberg. Most of the movies ahead of it are either established brands (Planet of the Apes) or ensemble pieces (The Departed), though, and Contraband wound up ahead of similar movies like Four Brothers ($21.2 million), The Italian Job ($19.5 million), and Shooter ($14.5 million). It also outperformed January action movies Edge of Darkness ($17.2 million) and Smokin' Aces ($14.6 million), and it was even close to matching Taken's $24.7 million. Contraband's audience was 51 percent male and 55 percent 30 years or older, and they awarded the movie a solid "A-" CinemaScore.

After the resounding success of The Lion King's 3D re-release, Disney opted to give Beauty and the Beast the re-release treatment as well. Its $18.5 million debut was less than The Lion King's $30.2 million, though it was more than the Toy Story/Toy Story 2 double feature ($12.5 million) and seems to confirm that there is a decent audience for re-issues of classic movies. The movie's 3D share was 97 percent (up from The Lion King's 92 percent), and the audience gave the movie an "A+" CinemaScore.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol fell 42 percent to an estimated $11.5 million, which brings its impressive total to $186.7 million. On Saturday, the movie passed the original Mission: Impossible's $181 million to become the second highest-grossing entry in the series, and it will next try to top Mission: Impossible II's $215.4 million.

Joyful Noise opened to an estimated $11.3 million, which is down a bit from Queen Latifah's Last Holiday ($12.8 million), but up from some of her other recent leading roles like Just Wright ($8.3 million) and Mad Money ($7.7 million). It was also an improvement over Country Strong's $7.3 million debut last January, though that movie was playing in just over half as many locations (2,735 vs. 1,424). Not surprisingly, the audience was 73 percent female and 65 percent over the age of 35 (likely indicating that Dolly Parton's presence had a positive effect), and they gave the movie an "A-" CinemaScore.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows held well in its fifth outing. The sequel dipped 39 percent to an estimated $8.4 million, and has so far earned $170 million.

After easily taking first place last weekend, The Devil Inside fell all the way to sixth place this week with an estimated $7.9 million. Its 76.6 percent decline is the 19th-biggest drop on record, and it is the worst one since Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience fell 77.4 percent in early 2009. Still, the movie has now made $46.2 million on a budget of less than $1 million, so it's easy to imagine they aren't too upset about this over at Paramount.

The Iron Lady expanded in to 802 locations this weekend and earned an estimated $5.4 million. Its $6,716 per-theater average is nearly identical to that of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy during its similar nationwide expansion last weekend. Carnage didn't fare quite so well in its expansion—the Roman Polanski-directed theater adaptation netted $786,000 from 494 venues for a poor average of $1,591.

Okay this is a hard week. While I know that Underworld Awakening is going to top the box office, what comes after that is hard. Red Tails is coming out, but it's getting slammed (good try Cuba, too bad you probably won't have a comeback) and Haywire (which has great reviews, but a bad market campaign). Plus we have movies left over from the previous week.

Anyway here's my top five (note: I don't have much to back this up with)v

Thanks to a surge of new releases, a wide expansion, and strong hold from Contraband, the January box office is exhibiting quite a bit of depth. While there won’t be any astronomical grosses this weekend, a number of films are churning out mid-level numbers in the $10 million range, which should lift the cumulative box office to a reasonably healthy level.

On top of the pack on Friday was Underworld Awakening, a 3D fourth installment of the Underworld franchise, which scared up $9.4 million in its first 24 hours. Due to fanboy frontloadedness, the Kate Beckinsale picture may finish the weekend with about $24 million, which would be the second-best debut in the franchise’s history (Underworld: Revolution started with $26.9 million in 2006), although that number seems much less healthy when youfactor in Awakening‘s $70 million budget.

In second place, Red Tails successfully got off the ground with $6 million on Friday. The George Lucas-produced WWII picture may pull off a $17 million debut, which would have seemed impossible a few short weeks ago. Fox should send Tyler Perry a fruit basket!

Last week’s victor, Contraband, which also stars Kate Beckinsale (who is having a very good January!), stuck around in third place with $3.7 million. The Mark Wahlberg action title may shoot up another $12.5 million over the Friday-to-Sunday period.

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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close expanded into 2,630 locations yesterday, but the 9/11 drama is being met with weaker-than-expected results. On Friday, it pulled in $3.2 million, and it may finish the weekend with $9.5 million.

Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire brought in a tepid $2.9 million, good enough for fifth place. The action-fest, which stars former MMA fighter Gina Carano, will have to settle for about $8 million in its debut frame. (Its “D+” CinemaScore grade won’t help matters…)

In sixth place, Beauty and the Beast dropped 63 percent from its opening day last week down to $2.1 million. Belle should finish the weekend right in the same range as Haywire, but I’m still confused by the drop. Are Disney princesses the new Fanboy favorites?

Underworld Awakening sunk its teeth in to the top spot at the box office this weekend, though that didn't stop Red Tails from also putting up strong numbers in its debut. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close and Haywire were less impressive, though, and The Artist failed to gain much traction in its nationwide expansion. The Top 12 earned an estimated $111.7 million this weekend, which is up a whopping 26 percent from the same period last year.

The latest entry in the Underworld franchise opened to an estimated $25.4 million, which is just a bit behind Kate Beckinsale's last entry, 2006's Underworld: Evolution ($26.9 million). It did at least mark a slight improvement over 2009's Underworld: Rise of the Lycans ($20.8 million), though that was sans-Beckinsale and didn't receive a boost from 3D premiums. The 3D format accounted for 59 percent of Awakening's ticket sales, while IMAX represented 15 percent (most or all of which is included within the 3D figure). Distributor Sony/Screen Gems is reporting that the audience was 55 percent male and 60 percent 25 years of age and older, and they awarded the movie a solid "A-" CinemaScore.

Red Tails cruised in to second place with a very respectable $19.1 million. That's above comparable fighter pilot movies Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow ($15.6 million), Stealth ($13.3 million), and Flyboys ($6 million), though it was about even with Sky Captain in estimated attendance. The audience breakdown was 51 percent male and 66 percent 25 years and older. The movie received an "A" CinemaScore, which improved to a fantastic "A+" score for those below 18 and above 50. Also of note: Red Tails marks distributor 20th Century Fox's best opening for a non-franchise title since last April's Rio.

After a strong first place start last weekend, Contraband fell 50 percent to an estimated $12.2 million. With a $46.1 million total so far, the movie has passed Mark Wahlberg's Max Payne ($40.7 million) and will eclipse Shooter ($47 million) by Tuesday.

Following a month in limited release, Sept. 11 drama Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close expanded to 2,630 locations and earned a disappointing $10.5 million. That's the least-attended nationwide opening in two decades for Tom Hanks, and is the least-attended in the last 15 years for Sandra Bullock. Even with a ubiquitous marketing effort, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close clearly wasn't able to overcome poor reviews and tough subject matter, though there's always a chance it hangs in well in coming weeks.

Haywire debuted in fifth place with an estimated $9 million. That's a bit off from recent similar female-oriented action movies Colombiana ($10.4 million) and Hanna ($12.4 million), though in just one weekend it almost earned as much as Domino did in its entire run ($10.2 million). The audience was 55 percent male and skewed a bit younger (64 percent under the age of 35), and it was 54 percent non-Caucasian. As reported yesterday, the movie received a terrible "D+" CinemaScore.

Beauty and the Beast 3D plummeted 52 percent to $8.56 million. That doesn't compare favorably to The Lion King 3D's 27 percent second weekend decline, and with $33.4 million in the bank so far Beauty has no chance of coming anywhere remotely close to Lion King's $94.2 million.

Following its three Golden Globe wins on Sunday and ahead of what's sure to be a ton of Academy Award nominations on Tuesday, The Artist expanded in to 662 locations this weekend. That wasn't enough to really gain much momentum, though, as the movie wound up in 17th place with a weak $2.37 million (an average of just $3,579). The Artist has now earned $12.1 million, and it's looking more and more like the black-and-white silent movie is not going to be able to attract a significant audience outside of the cinephiles who were already able to track it down in limited release.

The opportunity to see Liam Neeson go head-to-head with a pack of wolves drew solid crowds on Friday, giving Open Road Films its first number one debut with The Grey. One For the Money put up decent numbers as well, and could finish ahead of Underworld Awakening for the three-day weekend. Finally, Sam Worthington's questionable star power wasn't enough to get audiences excited about Man on a Ledge, which disappointed in fifth place.

The Grey opened to an estimated $6.5 million on Friday. That's lower than Taken's $9.4 million and slightly off from Unknown's $6.7 million, though some drop off from those movies was expected given the movie's frigid setting, R rating, and mid-range distributor (Open Road). Based on comparable movies from the past few years, The Grey will wind up in first place this weekend with at least $17 million.

One for the Money scored an estimated $4.1 million yesterday, which was good for second place at the box office. It wound up below recent Katherine Heigl movies Killers ($5.7 million) and Life as We Know It ($5.2 million). Those movies both had male co-leads (Ashton Kutcher and Josh Duhamel, respectively) and a more robust marketing effort, so One for the Money's opening is actually pretty respectable. Its $4.1 million is also nearly identical to the opening day of The Lincoln Lawyer, which was distributor Lionsgate's first attempt at selling discounted tickets on Groupon. For the three-day weekend, One for the Money should end up around $12 million.

As is typical for its genre, Underworld Awakening fell a steep 63 percent to an estimated $3.43 million. Still, that's actually the best hold and best second Friday yet for an Underworld movie, indicating that this one might be receiving slightly better word-of-mouth. Through eight days, the fourth installment in the vampire action series has earned $36.05 million, and it currently trails the second Underworld movie by less than $500,000.

Red Tails also crashed hard, spiraling 53 percent to an estimated $2.8 million. The George Lucas-produced story of the Tuskegee Airmen has now made $26.2 million.

Man on a Ledge opened in fifth place with an estimated $2.5 million. That's a bit lower than Sam Worthington's last movie, The Debt ($2.6 million), and is another unimpressive start for Summit Entertainment. The company is currently forecasting a $7.5 million weekend.

Following its surprise Best Picture nomination, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close eased 37 percent to an estimated $2 million. It has now made just under $16 million. Fellow Oscar nominee The Descendants expanded in to 2,001 locations and grossed $1.74 million, bringing its impressive total to $54 million. The Artist and Hugo were much further down the chart with $867,000 and $488,000, respectively.

With a clear premise and a popular actor operating within his wheelhouse, The Grey delivered upstart distributor Open Road Films their first number one debut this weekend. Meanwhile, One For the Money had an okay opening that exceeded most expectations, while Man on a Ledge was the latest mid-range Summit movie to underperform. The Top 12 grossed an estimated $99.4 million, which is up 7.6 percent from the same time period last year.

The Grey devoured an estimated $20 million this weekend. Among star Liam Neeson's recent action movies, The Grey opened lower than Taken's $24.7 million and also a tad below Unknown ($21.9 million). Those were both PG-13, featured robust marketing from their big-time distributors, and were essentially cousins of the Bourne series. For The Grey to even come close to those movies speaks both to Mr. Neeson's drawing power and the importance of having an interesting, easily conveyable story (in this case, it was "Liam Neeson fights wolves!"). According to distributor Open Road, the audience was 54 percent male, and there is no CinemaScore data available.

Last weekend's winner Underworld Awakening dipped 51 percent to an estimated $12.5 million. That's a stronger hold than any of the previous Underworld movies had, and its $45.1 million total through 10 days is also a franchise best.

One For the Money took third place with an estimated $11.75 million. That's lower than star Katherine Heigl's Killers ($15.8 million) and Life as We Know It ($14.5 million), and also less than Lionsgate's last Groupon-promoted movie The Lincoln Lawyer ($13.2 million). Even though it's a fairly unimpressive debut, it's far from the trainwreck that was being forecasted by many analysts ahead of the weekend. That was odd, though, considering author Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels are extremely popular among older women. Exit polling bears this out—the audience was 79 percent women, and 74 percent over the age of 35 (36 percent were between the ages of 35 and 40). They awarded the movie a poor "B-" CinemaScore, though, so it's unlikely it will hold up as well as The Lincoln Lawyer in the long run.

According to a Lionsgate spokesperson, the initial Groupon e-mail blast reached 20 million people, most of whom were female (85 percent of Groupon's users are women). While official figures aren't available, exit polling indicated that 34 percent of One For the Money's audience had heard about the Groupon promotion, and 11 percent actually bought their tickets through the service. Out of the people who did use the promotion, 93 percent of them indicated that they would not have attended the movie otherwise. Some rough math based on these figures suggests that the "Groupon bump" probably didn't amount to much more than $1 million.

In its second weekend in theaters, Red Tails fell 45 percent to an estimated $10.4 million. Through 10 days, the World War II Tuskegee Airmen flick has earned $33.8 million.

Man on a Ledge rounded out the Top Five with an estimated $8.3 million debut, which is a bit lower than star Sam Worthington's The Debt ($9.9 million). Plenty of factors aside from Worthington contributed to this disappointing debut, though, with the most noteworthy one probably being its muddled marketing effort. Trailers and commercials jumped between Worthington out on the ledge and a corresponding heist in a nearby building, with the vague indication that the whole thing was part of some kind of revenge scheme. A confusing premise like that really can't compete with Liam Neeson fighting wolves, and so Man on a Ledge wound up the loser. It did put up solid exit polling numbers, though—the audience was split evenly between men and women, and was 56 percent under the age of 25. They awarded the movie a respectable "B+" CinemaScore, meaning Man on a Ledge might not be completely dead yet.

"Chronicle" and "Woman in Black" are turning what was supposed to be a lackluster weekend at the box office into a battle for first place.

On Friday, the two new movies crushed their pre-release expectations.

Fox's "Chronicle" grossed an estimated $8.65 million while CBS Films' "Woman in Black" took an estimated $8.3 million.

Considering that Fox had expected high single-digits for the entire weekend -- though outside box-office watchers figured about $15 million -- and CBS was projecting $11 million for the whole weekend, opening day is beyond solid.

Both pictures are pretty much neck-in-neck for the No. 1 spot and on track to take in a touch more than $20 million each this weekend. The advantage still goes to "Chronicle" by a few hundred thousand dollars.

While Friday was great and Saturday is expected to remain robust, studios expect a major drop on Sunday, when all eyes will be on the Superbowl.

The other new movie at the box office this weekend is "Big Miracle," from Universal. That picture took in an estimated $2.26 million on Friday and is tracking to gross just short of $8 million for the weekend -- on par with expectations.

Earlier:

This is a weekend of low expectations at the box office.

Super Bowl weekend is about TV – not movies – and is traditionally one of the slowest box-office weekends of the year.

Super Bowl weekend 2011, for example, was the third-worst of the year. That weekend’s entire box office was $87.3 million – about half the opening weekend of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" alone. So studios have some cover if their movies don’t do especially well.

And how low are the expectations for this weekend’s three new releases?

Pretty darn.

Two PG-13 movies, Fox’s “Chronicle” and CBS Films’ “Woman In Black,” will fight it out for the No. 1 spot, while Universal’s “Big Miracle” will be lucky to take fourth place, behind last weekend’s champion, “The Grey.”

The advantage for the top spot belongs to Fox, but the studio is downplaying expectations, projecting that the film, directed by Josh Trank, probably will take in something in the high single-digits.

Less conservative box-office watchers outside Fox anticipate the movie, which cost about $12 million to make, could take in as much as $16 million, though the consensus is closer to $15 million.

The research firm NRG says there’s plenty of awareness about the movie: 52 percent of those polled told NRG they have heard of the movie. That’s an adequate number, but not nearly as good as the 68 percent “total awareness” score “The Woman in Black” received.

But 47 percent of men younger than 25 percent reported “definite” interest in seeing “Chronicle,” and 13 percent said it’s their first choice. Among young women, 40 percent report “definite” interest in “Chronicle.”

The found footage movie stars three mostly unknown actors as high school friends who develop superpowers. But it’s a touch darker than the synopsis might suggest.

The critics like it well enough: Rotten Tomatoes gives it an 87 percent rating, Metacritic gives it a 71 and Movie Review Intelligence gives it a 74.8.

It’s a fairly low-budget project for Fox – “Chronicle” cost about $12 million to make – so it doesn’t need huge numbers to work for the studio.

One thing to count on: The 2,909 locations showing “Chronicle” won’t be terribly crowded during the Super Bowl. Friday and Saturday are that movie’s key days.

While “Chronicle” goes after young men, CBS’s “Woman In Black” is aiming for a young female audience.

The movie stars Daniel Radcliffe, the young actor who brought Harry Potter to life.

And it’s likely to perform perfectly well for CBS Films, which paid $3 million for U.S. distribution rights to the film.

An $8 million weekend will push the picture into the black for CBS, and the studio expects it will take in around $11 million. Outside box-office watchers figure it will gross a few million more than that.

CBS Films has been promoting it on CBS and on the CW network, and Radcliffe has hyped it on “The Tonight Show,” “Ellen” and other television programs.

The movie is about a young lawyer who travels to a remote village where he encounters the ghost of a scornful woman.

It is getting reasonable reviews: Metacritic gives it a 60 percent, Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 69 and Movie Review Intelligence gives it a 68.6.

And its total awareness is the best of any of this week’s new movies: 68 percent of those surveyed by NRG reported that they knew of the movie. Among young women, the number is a remarkable 79 percent.

Additionally, 47 percent of young women report “definite” interest in seeing it and 16 percent say it’s their first choice.

Still, CBS expects a huge drop on Super Bowl Sunday.

The movie debuts at 2,885 locations.

Finally, there’s Universal’s “Big Miracle,” a PG-rated family film that looks like “Dolphin Tales” with whales instead of dolphins.

It’s the only family film of the weekend – “Woman In Black” looks a little scary for the 13-and-under set and “Chronicle” is a touch dark and has high school kids being high school kids.

If parents want to push the kids out of the house for a few hours while they prepare for the Super Bowl, they could well push them to “Big Miracle.”

Universal spent about $40 million to make the film, about a small town in Alaska that saves a family of gray whales from encroaching ice in the Arctic Circle -- quite a departure from last week's "The Grey," about a group of oil drillers in Alaska who try to escape a pack of grey wolves.

Universal targeted mothers and girls, and notes that the movie’s tracking is similar to the films “Ramona and Beezus,” which opened to $7.8 million and to “Soul Surfer,” which opened to $11 million.

NRG’s tracking shows the movie lagging behind both “Chronicle” and “The Woman in Black,” and outside box-office watchers expect the movie to stay in the single-digits.

Its strongest demographic is women, and 60 percent of young women and 64 percent of those older than 25 report awareness of the movie.

Even with most people distracted by the Giants or Patriots or whatever elaborate gameday dish they've been working on, this weekend still marked the first time in history that two movies opened above $20 million against the Super Bowl.

Based on studio estimates, Chronicle held off The Woman in Black to take the top spot this weekend, though Daniel Radcliffe's first post-Potter outing was impressive in its own right. The weekend's other opener, Big Miracle, was a tad disappointing, but it still finished in line with modest expectations. The Top 12 wound up grossing $95.9 million, which is up a whopping 31 percent from Super Bowl 2011.

Chronicle debuted to an estimated $22 million, which is the fourth-highest Super Bowl debut ever and second-best among movies targeting at men behind Taken ($24.7 million). It did earn less than major found footage flicks like Cloverfield ($40.06 million) and last month's The Devil Inside ($33.7 million), not to mention the last two Paranormal Activity movies, though that shouldn't detract too much from this movie's success.

Chronicle is the latest example of the economic viability of the found footage genre—the movie nearly doubled its production budget ($12 million) through its first three days. According to distributor 20th Century Fox, Chronicle's audience was 55 percent male and 61 percent under the age of 25. Overall, it received a "B" CinemaScore, and that improved to a "B+" among the under-25 crowd.

The Woman in Black wasn't far behind with an estimated $21 million start. Super Bowl weekend is a popular time to open teen-targeted horror movies, and The Woman in Black ranks second all-time behind When a Stranger Calls ($21.6 million). Perhaps more importantly, the movie's opening is easily the best in CBS Films' history, topping The Back-Up Plan's $12.2 million. According to CBS, Friday's exit polling indicated that the audience was 59 percent female and 57 percent under the age of 25. The movie received a "B-" CinemaScore, and that bumped up to a "B" among the younger audience.

Chronicle and The Woman in Black both managed to attract the under 25 crowd in large numbers (61 percent and 57 percent, respectively). While this audience has been a bit absent as of late, these numbers shouldn't be misinterpreted as some sort of return of the youth to movie theaters. Chronicle's main characters are all high-school students, and the "what if" premise was obviously relatable to younger audiences. With The Woman in Black, supernatural horror skews younger to begin with, and Daniel Radcliffe's popularity among teenage girls probably helped it out a bit as well. As is often the case, attendance was dictated more by the content and less by any larger market factors.

Last weekend's leader The Grey fell 52 percent to an estimated $9.5 million. That's a much steeper decline than that of Liam Neeson's Taken or Unknown, though neither of those movies were facing the Super Bowl. Through 10 days in theaters, The Grey has grossed $34.8 million.

Big Miracle opened in fourth place with an estimated $8.5 million. The movie had a per-theater average of $3,992, or notably lower than Dolphin Tale's $5,461 (though it had a 3D boost in there as well). Because its audience is primarily moms and younger girls, Universal Pictures is anticipating that Big Miracle holds fairly well against the Super Bowl. The audience was 68 percent female and 67 percent under the age of 25, and the movie received a solid "A-" CinemaScore.

Underworld Awakening rounded out the Top Five by falling 55 percent to an estimated $5.6 million. With a total of $54.4 million, it's still tracking slightly ahead of Underworld: Evolution ($53 million).

In its second weekend, One For the Money plummeted 54 percent to an estimated $5.25 million. That's much worse than The Lincoln Lawyer's 19 percent second weekend dip, indicating that this time Lionsgate's Groupon gambit isn't really panning out all that well. Through two weekends, the Katherine Heigl action comedy has earned $19.7 million.

In seventh place, Red Tails fell 52 percent to $5 million and has so far made $41.3 million.

The Descendants eased 28 percent to an estimated $4.6 million, and once again claimed eighth place on the weekend chart. On Sunday, it is expected to pass writer-director Alexander Payne's About Schmidt, and the Best Picture nominee has now grossed $65.5 million.

Falling 44 percent to an estimated $4.5 million, Man on a Ledge held best among last weekend's openers. Still, it's only made $14.7 million so far, which is a not-at-all-impressive tally.

Like I say, fanboys don't make up much of the audience, and Star Wars: Episode one in 3D is tracking for an opening weekend of 20 - +. Doesn't matter what you think, it won't change the box office (even if it doesn't make that much).

Whatever pill this year’s box office is taking, I want it. Exceeding the most optimistic projections, this weekend is on the way to having four movies open to more than $20 million each, and it should become the biggest non-holiday February weekend ever.

Leading the charge was The Vow, which took in $15.4 million on Friday. That puts the $30 million movie on track for a $41 million weekend — the best opening ever for the Sony-owned production company Screen Gems (beating Dear John‘s $30.5 million debut).

The Vow, which stars Rachel McAdams as a car-accident victim who forgets that Channing Tatum is her husband (impossible!), drew a crowd that was 74 percent female, and CinemaScore audiences handed it an overall “B” rating. The PG-13 film could be slightly front-loaded, though, as this is the first major romantic drama to hit theaters since The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1.

That would be good news for the Denzel Washington thriller Safe House, which finished slightly behind The Vow with $13.8 million. The R-rated movie is on pace for a $39 million weekend, which would represent Washington’s second-best opening ever (after American Gangster‘s $43.6 million). Make no mistake about it — Washington was the big draw here. According to CinemaScore, 72 percent of moviegoers said the actor was their reason for buying a ticket. Washington hasn’t been in a film for more than a year, and audiences were clearly itching to see him back on the big screen and playing a baddie once again.

Surprisingly, Safe House had no trouble at all attracting women — 48 percent of the audience was female. And ticket buyers liked what they saw, with CinemaScore participants giving the $85 million movie a solid “A-” grade.

Third and fourth place went to two 3-D family films. The three-dimensional re-release of the two-dimensional Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace collected $8.7 million on Friday, and should finish the weekend with around $25 million. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island performed better than expected, grossing $6.6 million on Friday. That puts the $79 million sequel on track for a $22 million opening, which would be slightly better than Journey to the Center of the Earth‘s $21 million debut. CinemaScore audiences gave Journey 2 a strong “A-” rating.

In fifth place, last week’s winner, Chronicle, dropped 59 percent for $3.5 million. Yes, that’s a large decline, but it actually compares favorably to other recent “found-footage” movies: The Devil Inside plummeted 84 percent its second Friday, while Paranormal Activity 3 fell 76 percent. Chronicle should finish the weekend with $11 million, pushing its cumulative tally to about $39 million — or more than three times its $12 million budget.

With four movies opening to over $20 million for only the second time in history, it was a very good weekend to be in the movie business. The Vow wound up in first with an excellent $41.7 million, though Safe House wasn't far behind in second. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island also drastically outperformed expectations, and Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace in 3D reaffirmed the enduring popularity of the Star Wars franchise. Overall box office is at $188.7 million with 43 titles reporting, which is behind Valentine's Day Weekend 2010 ($204.7 million) and about on par with Valentine's Day 2009 ($188.9 million).

The Vow's estimated $41.7 million topped Dear John's $30.5 million for best opening ever from a Sony/Screen Gems release. It was also the sixth-highest debut ever in February, and third-highest for a romance or romantic comedy behind Valentine's Day ($56.3 million) and Hitch ($43.1 million). The audience was 72 percent women and 55 percent under the age of 25, and there is currently no CinemaScore available.

Combining a "based on a true story" premise with the presence of Channing Tatum (Dear John) and Rachel McAdams (The Notebook) clearly made The Vow a must-see for young women this weekend. Potentially adding to the grosses is the fact that there really hasn't been a straightforward romance since last August's One Day, meaning there was pent-up demand among date night audiences. Timing the release around Valentine's Day certainly didn't hurt either. The Vow's performance seems to reaffirm the notion that making movies geared towards women can be a low-cost (in this case, $30 million) and high-reward proposition.

Safe House opened in second with an estimated $39.3 million. That's Denzel Washington's second-highest debut ever behind American Gangster's $43.6 million, and it crushed recent Denzel movies Unstoppable ($22.7 million) and The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 ($23.4 million). The opening was also a bit of a coup for Ryan Reynolds, who got beat up on pretty good last Summer following disappointing performances from Green Lantern ($116.6 million) and The Change-Up ($37.1 million).

Credit must be given to Universal for delivering a knock-out marketing effort for Safe House. Advertisements clearly positioned Denzel's character as the sort of clever, enigmatic "bad guy" that audiences love to root for. This character was incorporated in to a Bourne-esque plot surrounding an agent gone rogue, and there even appeared to be a dash of Training Day (Denzel vs. rookie) worked in as well. All of this was set to Kanye West & Jay-Z's "No Church in the Wild" (off the Watch the Throne collaboration), which ratcheted up the stakes with grandiose beats and lyrical snippets like "make it out alive."

Universal is reporting that the audience was evenly split between men and women, and 62 percent were 30 years of age or older. Also, the ethnic breakdown was 38 percent African American, 31 percent Caucasian, and 23 percent Hispanic.

Perhaps the biggest surprise this weekend was Journey 2's impressive $27.55 million debut. That's a notable improvement over 2008's Journey to the Center of the Earth ($21.02 million), which was unexpected for a number of reasons. The first Journey was released when the modern wave of 3D was still in its infancy, which provided the movie with a bit of novelty value. Also, it was loosely based on a legitimately popular Jules Verne novel, whereas The Mysterious Island is a far more obscure text. Finally, children's sequels that aren't closely timed (within two years or so) rarely out-gross their predecessors.

It seems like the only explanation for Journey 2's success is the addition of The Rock, who seems like a bona fide movie star as of late. He helped Fast Five reach new heights for that series last year and has just scored a strong opening with Journey 2; it will be interesting to see if he can continue this streak with G.I. Joe: Retaliation this Summer.

Journey 2's audience was split evenly between men and women, and it skewed younger (54 percent under the age of 25). The movie received a solid "A-" CinemaScore, which could portend a healthy run in the coming weeks. 3D showings took place in 2,750 locations and accounted for 74 percent of ticket sales, while IMAX (most or all of which was in 3D) contributed $3.8 million (14 percent).

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace had to settle for fourth place, though it still tallied a solid $23 million. That's right in between The Lion King ($30.2 million) and Beauty and the Beast ($17.8 million) among recent 3D re-releases. The movie did sell fewer tickets than any of the 1997 Star Wars re-releases, though that was to be expected given its middling reputation and wide home viewing availability. The audience was 60 percent male and 51 percent were 25 years of age and older, and 99 percent of ticket sales were for 3D presentations.

Thanks to the re-release, The Phantom Menace moved up from seventh to fifth place on the all-time chart with a $454.1 million total. By next weekend, it should move past the original Star Wars's $461 million to take fourth place and first among all Star Wars movies.

Last weekend's winner Chronicle fell to fifth place, though it only dipped 44 percent to an estimated $12.3 million. That's a strong hold considering its two main genres (found footage and superhero) are notoriously front-loaded. With $40.2 million in the bank already, the Chronicle 2 rumblings should be starting any day now.

The Woman in Black dropped 51 percent to $10.3 million. That's not a great hold, but it is at least on the better end for supernatural horror movies. The Daniel Radcliffe flick has now earned $35.5 million, and by the end of the week it will pass The Back-Up Plan to become the highest-grossing movie ever for CBS Films.

In its second weekend, Big Miracle plummeted 50 percent to an estimated $3.9 million. Through 10 days in theaters, the movie has grossed a meager $13.2 million.

Wait, only 99%? Does that mean there is actually a small non-3D release of this film? I MIGHT consider taking my kids to see this on the big screen in 2D, if available anywhere, but I'm NOT springing for 3D, especially after the reviews confirmed my impression from the trailer that the 3D was not very good (or in some cases all but non existent) for the vast majority of the movie.

Well here we are it's a new week, and two new releases are coming out Ghost Rider: Spirit of vengeance and this means war. Spirit of Vengeance is having it's reviewed blocked until tomorrow (no surprise there), but it should top the box office regardless (the original made a fortune on DVD).

While "Ghost Rider" opened strong in second place, "This Means War" had to settle for a fourth-place bow.

The power of love -- or at least a movie about the power of love -- prevailed at the box office Friday as Sony's The Vow, which opened at No. 1 last week, took the top spot for the day with an estimated $7.4 million.

With the President's Day holiday weekend shaping up as another upbeat outing at the North American box office, Sony is looking to nail down the top two spots since its new wide release, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance was second for the day with about $7 million. Fox's This Means War, the day's other new major wide release, met with some resistance, bowing in the fourth slot with $5.6 million.

Vow, from Sony's Screen Gems unit and Spyglass, got an extra boost mid-week from Valentine's Day moviegoers, with the Rachel McAdams-Channing Tatum starrer grossing $11.6 million on Feb. 14. Holding onto nearly 50 percent of its opening day audience on Friday, it looks as if it could flirt with the $30 million mark over the busy four-day weekend.

Universal's thriller Safe House, starring Denzel Washington, also hung onto its audience as it entered its second weekend. Taking in about $6.5 million for the day, it stands to pull in a weekend haul in the high $20-million range and while it ranked third on Friday, could even move up a notch or two as the weekend plays out.

Rider, the tale of a flammable superhero based on the Marvel Comics character, co-financed and co-produced by Sony and Hyde Park Entertainment, stars Nicolas Cage, is a sequel to the 2007 movie, which grossed $228 million worldwide. Opening in 3,174 theaters on Friday for a second place showing, it should also put together a figure in the mid-to-high $20 million range for the weekend.

War, in which Chris Pine and Tom Hardy play spies battling for the love of Reese Witherspoon, staged national sneaks on Valentine's Day, taking in $1.6 million, hoping to kickstart word of mouth for the movie, directed by McG. The $5.6 million it took in Friday in the 3,189 theaters where it bowed puts its-gross-to-date at $7.2 million. Its weekend take is expected to be something just under $20 million.

After finishing in third on Friday, Safe House played well on Saturday and edged past The Vow and the disappointing Ghost Rider sequel to claim first place for the first three days of Presidents Day Weekend. Journey 2 had a great hold in fourth, while This Means War opened decently in fifth. The Top 12 earned an estimated $144 million, which is an 11 percent improvement from the same weekend last year.

Safe House was off 40 percent to an estimated $24 million. Through 10 days the movie has made $78.3 million, which ranks second among Denzel Washington movies behind American Gangster ($80.4 million). Safe House is currently on pace to easily exceed $100 million, making it just the fourth Denzel movie ever to reach that level.

In its second outing, The Vow fell 43 percent to an estimated $23.6 million. That's a very solid hold given that the movie has already raked in tons of money between its huge opening weekend and its impressive Valentine's Day performance. On Sunday, The Vow will pass Dear John ($80 million) to become Sony/Screen Gem's highest-grossing movie ever, and its total is expected to reach $85.5 million.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance flamed out this weekend with a meek $22 million start at 3,174 locations (2,352 of which showed the movie in 3D). That opening is less than half the three-day start of the original Ghost Rider on the same weekend in 2007 ($45.4 million), which is a nearly unprecedented drop for a sequel.

An abundance of factors contributed to Ghost Rider's decline. While Nicolas Cage has been getting away with the over-the-top shtick for a while now, his star has faded in recent years with an abundance of bizarre and disappointing projects like The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Season of the Witch and Drive Angry. More important than Cage, though, is the fact that audiences probably weren't all that interested in a sequel to Ghost Rider in the first place. The original movie has a 5.2 rating on IMDb, which is atrocious considering fanboy fare usually gets a break on the site.

The nail in the coffin, so to speak, could have been the lengthy time off between the original and the sequel. As odd as this may sound, a good comparison is Happy Feet Two. Both Spirit of Vengeance and Happy Feet Two added 3D and were released exactly five years after their first movies. Happy Feet Two's opening was 51 percent of Happy Feet's, while Spirit of Vengeance's was 49 percent of Ghost Rider's. This seems to indicate that unless you have a monster of a brand (even with four years off, The Dark Knight Rises will probably be in good shape), you really shouldn't wait too long on the sequel.

One bright spot is that the budget for Spirit of Vengeance was just $57 million, or around half of the first movie's $110 million budget (our trusted source at Sony originally reported Ghost Rider 2's budget at $75 million, but said he accidently switched the numbers and sent along the revised figure on Sunday). Regardless, Ghost Rider is an established brand and the movie had a robust marketing effort, so it really should have opened much higher than $22 million.

Ghost Rider's audience was 61 percent male and 48 percent under the age of 25, and there is not currently a CinemaScore available.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island dipped a light 27 percent this weekend to an estimated $20.1 million. the movie is already at over $53 million, and is currently tracking $10 million ahead of the original Journey to the Center of the Earth. At this point, at least, that movie's $101.7 million total seems well within reach.

This Means War took fifth place with an estimated $17.55 million. That's an okay start given the mediocre track record of rom-com/action hybrids like Knight & Day ($20.1 million), The Tourist ($16.5 million) and Killers ($15.8 million). Of course, it was no Mr. & Mrs. Smith ($50.3 million), but realistically what chance does Chris Pine, Tom Hardy and Reese Witherspoon have of matching up against Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie? Considering the unexpectedly strong competition from The Vow and the movie's miserable reviews, this isn't a bad debut at all. The audience was predominantly female (65 percent) and a bit older (60 percent were 25 years of age and older), and the movie received a very solid "A-" CinemaScore.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 3D plummeted 65 percent to an estimated $7.9 million in its second weekend. That's much worse than Beauty and the Beast 3D's 51 percent second weekend decline, though a steep drop is fairly typical for sci-fi franchise fare. Including its original release, The Phantom Menace has now made $464.8 million, which is good for fourth all-time and first among Star Wars movies.

Even with the abundance of other choices, Chronicle and The Woman in Black continued to play well in their third weekends. Chronicle dipped 38 percent to an estimated $7.5 million, while The Woman in Black eased 34 percent to an estimated $6.6 million. The movies have now made $51 million and $45.3 million, respectively.

The Secret World of Arrietty debuted in ninth place with an estimated $6.4 million. That tops Ponyo's $3.6 million to become the best stateside opening ever for a Studio Ghibli movie, and it even had a slight per-theater advantage ($4,205 vs. $3,868). Audiences awarded the movie an "A-" CinemaScore.

This week is a little easy to predict. Tyler Perry will no doubt be on top. Ghost Rider and this Means War will make about the same (Ghost Rider Friday to saturday number were not that different). I have no idea about Gone or Waterlust, or even Act of Valor (which I heard is horrible).

Box office update: 'Act of Valor' snipes 'Good Deeds' on Friday with $9.1 million; 'Gone', 'Wanderlust' flop
by Grady Smith
Filed under: Movies and tagged: Act of Valor, Box Office, Gone, Good Deeds, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Movie Biz, Safe House, The Vow, Tyler Perry, Wanderlust
Comments 5Add comment Tyler Perry’s magic touch is proving to be a little less magic for his latest release Good Deeds, which was expected to top the box office this weekend. Instead, Navy SEAL action film Act of Valor is headed to an easy win over the Friday-to-Sunday period.

Act of Valor shot up a great $9.1 million on Friday, which should lead the film to a $25 million weekend and an easy number one position. The film which, audiences issued an “A” CinemaScore grade, should prove to be a big win for Relativity. Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds, meanwhile, got off to a more sluggish start. The film pulled in a weaker-than-expected $5.5 million, and may gross about $15 million by Sunday night.

The weekend’s other two new releases, Wanderlust and Gone, fared much, much worse, grossing just $2.2. million and $1.7 million, respectively. Wanderlust may wander to the $6 million mark this frame, while thriller Gone will earn a not-so-thrilling $5 million. Holdovers Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, The Vow, and Safe House, in their third weekends, will all just about double these grosses.